SANFORD, FL — After falling behind 3-0 after four innings, the Sanford River Rats stormed back to defeat the Winter Garden Squeeze 5-3 thanks to a four-run bottom of the fifth. The big half-inning for the River Rats was highlighted by a three-run home run by River Rats catcher Humberto Torres (FIU) on Thursday night.

Torres didn’t record his first hit of the year until June 26 against the Seminole County Scorpions, but Torres has tallied four hits in the eight games since that hit. Thursday night was his first home run of the year with a moon shot into left field as Torres stared the ball down during his walk towards first base.

The catcher has been putting in tons of effort to wake up his bat, and Torres took advantage of Squeeze pitcher Peter Weil (North Georgia).

“I really have to credit my coaches and my teammates for putting in that work in the cage with me and to help things to start clicking,” Torres said on his rejuvenated hitting. “Tonight, I came into the plate looking for a ball out. He [Weil] missed and threw me a ball up, so I took advantage of it.” 

River Rats head coach Josh Montero was very impressed with what he saw from Torres on Thursday night and credited Torres for kick-starting the River Rats success in the game as Weil pitched a perfect game through the first four innings for the Squeeze.

“He’s seeing the ball a lot better and has been consistently making better, harder contact,” Montero said on Torres’ performance. “Tonight was definitely his best game as a River Rat and a huge improvement from him.”

The other run that started the inning off for the River Rats was an RBI single to short left field by Jackson Muldowney (Undecided) who drove home Justin Farmer (FIU) for the first run of the game. The home run by Torres in the next at-bat gave the River Rats a 4-3 lead.

Rollin Layton (Undecided) started his second game of the season from the mound marking his team-high 11th appearance of the season. Layton also recorded his longest outing of the year pitching six innings and only allowing five hits with a pair of strikeouts. Layton earned his fifth win of the season, which is best among all pitchers in the FCSL.

Jared Herron (Rollins) singled to start off the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to center field and was replaced by pinch-runner Azim Nobles (Seminole State). Nobles crossed home plate thanks to a sacrifice fly from Torres who had four RBIs on the night.

Nick Cummings (Undecided), Logan Frasier (State College of Florida) and Jarrod Cande (Florida Southern) came in to pitch one inning apiece in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, respectively. The three pitchers combined to give up no hits over the final three innings and secure the win for the River Rats.

Things were uneasy in the top of the ninth with the tying run at the plate for the Squeeze and Dalton Shuffield (Texas State) on second base. 

With two outs Cande forced Wesley Faison (Texas State) to hit a fly ball into center field. River Rats outfielder Austin Dilbert (Stetson) raced over for a miraculous diving catch to end the game.

Dibert knew he had to make the catch, and there was no doubt that he was coming down with that ball in his glove.

“Two outs, you always have to be on your toes, even more than a regular pitch, and I had to seal the deal,” Dilbert said. “I got a great jump on the ball and put it all on the line… the runner would’ve scored if I drop it and it’s honestly fight or flight.”

The Sanford River Rats (15-13) remain in third place in the league standings as they sit now three games ahead of the Leesburg Lightning. The River Rats are five games behind the DeLand Suns for second place. 

The loss for the Winter Garden Squeeze (4-21-1) marks 18 games since the team has won a game and is searching for some sort of life. The team’s last victory came on June 15 against the River Rats. The two teams will play game two of the three-game series on Friday night at Lake Minneola High School at 7 p.m.

Zach Miles (University of Georgia)